Disclaimer: Still don't own any of these characters. Credit goes to Lewis Carroll and SyFy
A/N: To everyone who reviewed/favorited/added this story to your alerts – you guys are amazing!
Alice landed on hard marble this time. Much less forgiving than the grass, she thought with annoyance, but at least it's not concrete. She picked herself up carefully from the floor, quickly mentally checking for injuries. However, Alice was basically unharmed, although she was sure she'd have a few large bruises by the evening. The question now was where she actually was.
With some surprise, Alice found that she was actually in the mirror hall itself. She briefly wondered why she hadn't landed here after the last trip instead of an abandoned building, but she decided not to worry about it at the moment. More importantly, where was everyone else? The last time Alice had been in this room, the hall had been filled with people and suits. It made no sense now to have the portal to Wonderland left abandoned. Not that everything in Wonderland always made the most sense, but this seemed too strange. Which put Alice on her guard. She started to hurry to the doors on the opposite side of the room, which was feeling emptier with each passing second.
A shout echoed through the hall moments later. Alice whirled around to face her attacker but quickly recognized the figure standing in the doorway. Relief made her feel slightly unbalanced for a few seconds.
"Charlie! I was hoping to see someone familiar soon." She threw herself at the knight, enveloping him in a hug. Alice found somewhat to her surprise that she really had missed the old knight terribly. "Where is everyone anyway?" she questioned. "This place feels like a ghost town."
Stepping back, Alice noticed that Charlie had an unusually somber expression. He reached out and placed his hand on Alice's shoulder. "My lady, everything has not been well in Wonderland since you left."
"I don't understand, Charlie. What's happening? I thought the Queen had been imprisoned and Jack is now the King. Shouldn't things be going better now at least?" Alice had a growing sense that something was terribly off.
Charlie sighed. "Alas, Jack himself is not… well, either. I do not think you would like what you saw if you spoke to him now."
Alice narrowed her eyes. "Not well? Charlie, can you please just tell me what you're talking about?"
"Jack is not himself. He has changed drastically in the two months since he ascended to the throne so that even those closest to him do not recognize him. Everyone is uneasy, frightened even, as he has become harsher than the Queen ever was when dealing out punishment to those who do not bow to his will. The people are suffering, and anyone that protests his actions are…. silenced." Charlie let his voice drift off rather ominously.
Charlie's words shocked Alice but also brought back to mind why she was even here. "Charlie, where's Hatter? I need to see him." Alice could hear her voice shaking but didn't particularly care at the moment.
The knight looked down at the floor.
"Jack has him, doesn't he."
Charlie dragged his eyes back to Alice, simply saying "No one has heard from him since Jack forcibly took him back from your world."
With that, Alice knew beyond a doubt that Hatter had been the worker who had found her and taken her to the hospital. She could very well owe her life to the man. "I'm going after him, Charlie."
He mustered a sad smile for Alice, knowing that she could not be persuaded once she had set her mind to a course of action. "Naturally, my dear. Just be careful. And if you ever need a place to stay, my old camp is always open to you. You remember the way there?"
Alice nodded her head and hugged the knight once again. "I won't mention this to Jack, don't want to get you in trouble in case he gets angry at me."
Charlie quickly told Alice how to get to the palace, and then Alice left to go confront Jack.
Alice made it to the palace with no problems, nobody bothering her. In fact, she hardly saw anyone at all. Not that this was so different from her last trip into Wonderland, but the city seemed even more still than last time. Getting into the palace was much easier than Alice had thought. Nobody really appeared to be guarding the front doors – Wonderlanders were freely walking in and out. However, all of them seemed quiet hurried, as though they were trying not to be noticed. Alice took a deep breath, straightened her back, and simply strode in. She let herself smile, feeling relieved. Perhaps things wouldn't be as awful as Charlie pictured after all. He could be a bit prone to exaggeration anyway... and with these optimistic thoughts Alice began looking for the throne room.
It wasn't difficult. In attempting to blend in with the flow of foot traffic, Alice found herself walking right past a set of ornate, crimson red double doors with suits stationed outside. A particularly pompous-looking club stood outside, refusing to let anyone in until there was a break in the King's agenda. Alice definitely didn't want to talk to him, so she ducked around the corner. She supposed that she could just wait outside in the hallway until Jack was done with business for the day and catch him on his way out. Perhaps then there would be fewer people around to watch her. Of course, that would mean waiting for hours, but honestly she couldn't think of anything better at the moment. Alice leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment, fighting off the exhaustion that was starting to set in. She shouldn't have left in the middle of the night without any sleep.
"Alice, what on earth are you doing here?"
Her eyes snapped open to reveal Duchess standing in front of her, eyes wide and mouth left open. The blonde was the last person Alice really wanted to see right now – she wasn't at all sure that she had all of her personal issues with the girl behind her. More importantly, she didn't know exactly what Duchess thought of her. Would she attempt to get her arrested or thrown back through the Looking Glass? Technically she had been the "other woman" in the situation…
But the next words Duchess spoke erased whatever doubts Alice had about the woman's feelings. "Alice, you're not safe here. I know why you're here and completely understand, but you can't be seen in this palace by anyone else who would automatically recognize you."
Alice could feel her mouth slightly hanging open and shut it with a snap. "I have to talk to…. wait, you know why I'm here?"
"Of course I do," Duchess whispered, dragging Alice by the hand down the hall, away from the double doors. "I know that Jack had Hatter thrown into the dungeon for no just cause, and I would have done the same thing in your position. But you can't help him by speaking to Jack." Her blue eyes filled with water right before she looked away. "Trust me, he would not help you at all. You'll be much better if you stay far away from that man."
Duchess' behavior completely confused Alice. She had thought the woman hated her! Apparently she'd been wrong, and now it looked like she had been wrong about Jack as well. If even Duchess didn't seem to trust him, Alice knew that he would not release Hatter for whatever he had done.
The hallway that Duchess had pulled her into had been empty, but now Alice could here quickly approaching footsteps. Duchess turned back around, carefully wiping under her eyes and pushed her further away. "Go, quickly, take your next right and there will be a door leading back outside the palace. You shouldn't see anyone on the way out if you hurry. Now go, please, Alice."
Alice started to comply, but turned around at the last second. "Why are you helping me? I thought you hated me?" she asked impulsively.
Duchess shook her head. "Alice, I never hated you. I was jealous, but I can see now that – " The woman stopped suddenly, visibly paling.
"Duchess?" called a female voice from the entrance to the hallway.
"Go!" she hissed at Alice before quickly heading back in the direction of the voice. This time Alice obeyed without hesitation and ran. She didn't stop until she was free of the palace and back onto the streets outside the building. Duchess wasn't a woman easily intimidated or scared. Her reaction to the unseen woman had freaked Alice out more than she cared to admit.
Now of course Alice had to decide where to go. She needed to stop and regroup, come up with a new plan. She just couldn't bear the thought of going back to her world before she had freed Hatter but obviously couldn't stay in the city. Charlie's camp was the only option. Alice didn't want to bring any trouble on him, but he had offered it to her as a safe haven. She would just have to trust that Charlie had been sincere.
Alice could remember how to get back to Charlie's kingdom of the knights as long as she could get to the beach. Unfortunately, transportation would be a problem. There weren't exactly any flamingos lying around for her to use, not that she would have voluntarily climbed onto one of those death traps again, but at least one could have gotten her where she needed to go. But what could she possibly use to get across the lake –
Then Alice remembered Hatter's smuggling boat. Knowing him, he would have tied it back up at the dock near his old tea shop. That boat was one of the few possessions – other than his hat – that he really seemed to care about. Surely he wouldn't have left it to rot on the side of the lake. Alice didn't feel great about this idea, but it was better than nothing. At least it was a chance.
And surely enough, after an hour of getting lost in the confusing city, Alice found herself staring at Hatter's boat, tied up at the very same dock he'd led her too before when they were trying to escape from Mad March. The thought of speeding across the lake brought an unexpected jolt of pain through Alice's body. Wonderland just didn't seem right this time, not without Hatter. Would she ever even see him again? For a moment, Alice felt like her entire trip back here was pointless and stupid. How was she supposed to rescue Hatter by herself?
Suppressing the urge to cry, Alice squeezed her eyes shut. No, she couldn't think like this. She had to be strong. Hatter's life could very well depend on her. The thought of Hatter dying because of her failure almost caused Alice to panic, freezing her on the spot. She couldn't lose him there, not when she had just started to realize that she actually loved him. Alice shocked herself with this last thought – when had like become love? But that wasn't a question she had time to answer now.
So Alice opened her eyes, walked confidently to his boat, and tossed her backpack inside.
However, a knife at her throat stopped her from taking another step.
"I really wouldn't scream if I was you." The voice that threatened her sounded ragged, but Alice would have recognized it anywhere.
"Hatter?"
Immediately the knife fell away from her throat. She spun around to see the former con man, enemy of Jack Heart, and possible love of her life standing in complete shock, arms dropped down to his side. Hesitantly, he lifted his hand and touched the side of her face. Alice stifled a small gasp as she looked him over. His face, where it wasn't crusted in dried blood, was a montage of fading bruises, giving it the appearance of being a mottled yellow and brown color. His clothes were torn and bloodied as well, and he was clearly favoring his left leg.
"I- I didn't think I was going to see you again," he whispered, almost unaware that he was speaking. "Ever. I thought…" Hatter trailed off as a he started to sway on the spot. "Alice-" he muttered just as his knees buckled.
Alice jumped forward and just barely caught Hatter as he sagged against her, his head landing on her shoulder.
"Hatter, you've got to stand up, just long enough to get you over to your boat. Then I can get you out of here, where you'll be safe." Alice's panicked voice roused him just enough to make it into the boat, but once inside Hatter passed completely out. Worry threatened to swamp Alice's emotions again, but she knew that before she could see how badly he was hurt, she would have to get Hatter to safety. She managed to get the motor started with little difficulty and was soon headed towards the opposite shore of the lake, hoping like hell that she would have enough strength to get Hatter to Charlie's camp.
The woman watched Duchess silently as she scurried back to her.
"What were you doing down that hallway, your ladyship? It seemed as though there was someone with you?" she asked in smooth voice.
Duchess swallowed before answering slowly. "Just a servant who appeared to be lost. I set them straight quickly enough." She couldn't make eye contact with the other woman while she spoke.
"Oh, that's all then. Just…. checking. To make sure there weren't any problems."
"No, nothing was the matter." Duchess curtsied and hurried away before the woman could ask her any more questions.
She watched Duchess go, amused at the reaction she was able to create in even the strongest of people here. However, her attention was soon drawn back to the empty hallway. As pathetic as Duchess was, the woman knew that Jack's fiancée had just lied to her. She had heard a few seconds of the conversation. Not much that was useful, but enough to know that Alice Hamilton had indeed returned to Wonderland.
The plot thickens?
Sorry I took so long to update! Classes started this week and I had to get organized. But hopefully I will have another chapter up in the next few days. If you have any questions, just ask me in a review and I'll answer the best I can.